Lisa - (Aussie Girl)’s Comments (group member since Sep 26, 2012)

Lisa - (Aussie Girl)’s comments from the Nothing But Reading Challenges group.

Volunteering for DQ's for Team Rock.

I have already borrowed from the library.. so volunteering for DQ's for Team ROCK.

Zachary Smith is defeated in one fell swoop.

The new monster is Shelob (LOTR)

Captains, I found this book which looks really good for Sydney, Australia.

Is it green enough. tineye says 46.2% but it looks mainly green to me.

LISA'S MESSAGES FOR BOOK TOKENS.

DAY 1 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
DAY 2 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
DAY 3 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
DAY 4 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
DAY5 - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

DQs Day 5 chapters 32 - end

19. I was excited that Louise and Mark were going to contact Aunt Gail. I liked meeting Barb. I was surprised that they could not really help, and suddenly, we were back where we started, in the creepy house with the puppets. Why do you think Barb and Aunt Gail were in the story?

Maybe to add some different theories to the mix. Their Christian exorcism and "get rid of the devil" was a bit of red herring.

20. I found the horror of Poppy’s plight with Pupkin to be the most concerning. Did you find the horror in this book effective? Which parts creeped you out the most?

Yeah, definitely made me feel uncomfortable reading through most of the book. I don't think horror is my genre. I hated the bit about the needle in the eye, definitely cringed through that part.

21. Gary Hendrix is also known for his humor. I laughed out loud when the puppets got together to form a golem. What parts (if any) did you find humorous?

He's known for his humour.. really. Can't say I LOL at any part of the book. Too busy cringing.. Glad you got a laugh though.

22. I was shaking my head when Louise gave her daughter her stuffed animals. I would want no part of that house to be a part of my daughter’s life! How did you feel about that part?

Hadn't thought about that, but you're right. You'd think Louise would have had enough of creepy toys for a lifetime.

23. How do you feel about the ending?

I was kicking myself that I didn't work it out! In hindsight, as soon as the dead relative Freddy was mentioned it was a huge tell. But all the horror, needles in eyes, and chainsawed arm must have thrown me off. Actually the ending worked for me, but I'm not a horror reader really so therefore 3 stars.

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Finished for Y (although it works for quite a few letters).
As I'm bed bound I should get through another Y and Z before the round ends"

I had to scroll back because I must have missed that you'd had surgery Karen. Hope it went well and you are healing up.. and your boys are treating you like a Queen. 😍

DQs Day 4: Ch. 23-31

14. After Mark's story, the siblings kind of bonded. What did you think of that and the hug. At that point of the story, did you feel like they were going to be unified or that it would be short-lived?

Thinking about it, it was either going to be total war between the siblings but it makes more sense that they have a truce for now and defeat the evil, creepy Pupkin.

15. So they made a plan to go back in and take care of Pupkin vs. just burning down the house? Why?? Pretend you don't know how that turned out - what would you have decided to do after they both shared their Pupkin experiences?

I sort of thought it wouldn't have been that easy to get rid of him.. and there was going to be an epic showdown in the last couple of chapters.

16. The battle! I don't even know what to say other than I kept needing to put the book down. Did you expect this level of brutality? Would you have been able to cut off the arm?

Oh my.. I thought there would be some sort of violence, we'd already had the awful eye experience so short of death I guess amputation was definitely on the agenda.

17. Did you expect Pupkin to show back up like he did? Yep, he was never going to be easy to get rid of.

18. What did you think of Gail? If you haven't finished already, what do you think will happen?

Gail was the down South sort of character who was bound to pop up. I didn't really have that much of a reaction to her. Even though I wasn't really enjoying this book I did have to read on to finish.. and the way it ended up actually was good and I enjoyed the book quite a lot more by the end.

Bonus: Are you systematically removing all puppets from your house now? If so, don't worry - they'll be back =O

No puppets in this house.. they are creepy. But hey everyone has their thing.. mine is tea cups, LOL.

Elisabeth wrote: "I imagine there's a percentage for the setting. From the blurb my next book starts out in Australia, maybe Melbourne, and then goes to Paris. I'll have to read it to find out. But the author LN is ..."

50%, Elisabeth.

ooh, You can only visit each city once. That's make it interesting..

I have these two -

Liverpool, UK which is also 60.6% green
New Orleans -

Thanks Capt Louise. 😍 Looking forward to getting stuck into Round 2.

Elisabeth wrote: "Does the instrument in the text continue on in this round or will there be something else as a bonus?"

The new bonus words are city and country settings. I found it in the Challenge Status spread sheet. It will make it interesting!

So far I've got two. New Orleans, Louisiana and Liverpool UK.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Usually once a book has been started after the Challenge officially starts, then the finished date is the important one as per rounds. Captains might want to confirm this is the same in this Challenge.

Fiona wrote: "I can cover a lot of D books then, since German articles (equivalent to “the”) all start with D!"

That's very handy. 😊

DQs Day 3; Chapters 16-22

10. Pupkin is,,, alive??? Okay, no big surprise there to be honest, but we did finally get some interesting background info from Louise and Mark's childhood, even if that's not how Louise remembers it. Do you think she really doesn't remember, has simply forgotten, due to trauma or it just having happened way too long ago, or does she remember but chooses not to acknoledge it? Or maybe Mark misremembers himself and it didn't even happen (that way at least)? They were both still very young after all, Mark especially. Is it possible to remember something that happened when you were only two years old?

Wow, this family is messed up! Is Pupkin just the manifestation of their mental illness? That's what I'm thinking. There is a lot of previous family history with the parents that hasn't been disclosed. Is this a mental illness that runs through the family?

11. The second perspective adds a new layer, however it only got added halfway through the book. Were you surprised we got Mark's POV at all, and would you have preferred for it to be there from the beginning of the book? Also, has this last section changed your opinion on him in any way? He did save Louise from Pupkin after all....
Interesting how the reader had formed an opinion of Mark from the first half of the book which IMHO softens upon hearing his side of the story. Then you get his creepy goings on in Worcester.. was this psychosis or a bad drug trip? Mmmm.. we'll see but at his stage I really think this is more a story about mental illness than possessed puppets. But I have been wrong before, LOL.

12. To me, the last chapter feels a bit like a fever dream, definitely like they were on drugs. I personally don't remember which MPGs the book has and don't want to check in case of 'spoilers' now, but do you think there's a possibility the house, our main characters, the puppets, the dolls, Pupkin, everything- isn't actually haunted and none of it is actually happening?? What if it's just a dream (which would be the worst ending ngl), mental problems like Louise wants to believe, or mold in the house that's effecting them like this plus possible drug use from Mark when he was away?

See my last answer.. the author is leading the reader towards a mental health explanation or maybe this is all a red herring and it is truly horror. Stay tuned to find out.

13. I can't help but wonder how the book is gonna end... If Pupkin is indeed an evil puppet come to life I only see one way it can be destroyed - fire. Do you think they'll end up burning down the entire house (although Hill House (in the show at least) wouldn't let itself be burned down either, so who knows if that would work), or will the dolls and puppets take over? What do you predict will happen in the rest of the book?

If it is a mental health theme it could go either of two ways. They both go totally psychotic and burn everything down or they let the rational parts of their minds take control. Louise was able to do this earlier on in the book aged 5. I'll be truly surprised if there is an evil entity controlling them. This is not my usual kind of read but I am intrigued as to how it's all going to play out.

Keely wrote: "Our Round 2 word and colour have been revealed. Our word is Didgeridoo and colour is Green.

No super hard letters, but lots of I's, O's and D's will be needed. And Green seems an easier colour tha..."

Ooh, I like it! Great Aussie word and no tricky letters. Lets go, Team Rock!

You're on a slayfest Vicky!

I found a five for one for Zachary Smith. Woo Hoo.

Still enjoying this challenge so much..

DQs Set 2: Chapters 8 - 15

6. Were you expecting those wills? Why do you think both parents were so unfair on the kids?

After Louise detailed what she thought was in the Wills, I knew it wouldn't go how she expected. It seemed totally unfair how her Mother's will played out. Parents do some strange things sometimes.

7. Yikes! killer stuffed squirrels! The first violent haunting here, was it effective?

Totally creeped me out. I had to make myself read that chapter. The only thing worse would be snakes..

8. Despite the various creepy things that Louise has experienced, she's refusing to let her aunt exorcise the house. Would you still be hanging onto rational reasons over accepting family help?

Mmm.. In this case exorcism seems the way to go..

9. We've had more insight into the childhood of Mark and Louise. Does this change your opinion of either of them?

Their childhood certainly had some issues, I can't say I like either of them very much. Louise does have every right after such an unfair will to have unresolved feelings especially for their mother.

DQs Day 1
Ch 1 to Ch 7

1.) What are your first impressions of the family and of Louise and Mark? How pivotal do you think their relationship (or lack thereof) will play in the story.
Aside: I plan to steal and use the phrase "Terminal Assholism" in future. Thank you Hendrix!

The family seem pretty dysfunctional. We are getting a lot of the POV from Louise, and I don't think she is the most balanced person either really. This seems to be a novel about family secrets with a big dose of creepy thrown in.

2.) The book is organized into sections following the 5 stages of grief. Does this impact your expectations of the book at all?
Oops I didn't even twig to that. Duh! I wonder if a lot of the supposed creepy stuff are manifestations of grief. We will see.

3.) Okay. Life size dolls named after her children. Weird, creepy? Would you be excited to have them as part of your inheritance?

That would be a big NO. Nothing is as creepy as life size dolls modelled on your children. And that whole Christian Puppeteers.. double creepy.

4.) Have you ever experienced a family post-death squabble/fight like the one Louise and Mark had in front of the junk clean out guys?

Not personally, although there is an issue in my extended family with a post death squabble going on now. It happens unfortunately quite often.

5.) Did anyone else google Fellowship of Christian Puppeteers? If so, were you surprised to find they were a real organization? Has anyone interacted with them before or a similar organization for other religious beliefs? [note: please keep responses respectful to people's beliefs, this is a safe space]

Really, it's a thing? Going off to google..

Hey Team Rock,

We're all powering on despite a few tricky letters.

Captains, I'll have time left to do a short "Y" book.. do we need it or should I save if for another round?

How about these two for a couple of short classics I've always wanted to read - put together in one instalment. The Time Machine / The Invisible Man



The Time Machine, H. G. Wells’s first novel, is a tale of Darwinian evolution taken to its extreme. Its hero, a young scientist, travels 800,000 years into the future and discovers a dying earth populated by two strange humanoid species: the brutal Morlocks and the gentle but nearly helpless Eloi.

The Invisible Man mixes chilling terror, suspense, and acute psychological understanding into a tale of an equally adventurous scientist who discovers the formula for invisibility—a secret that drives him mad.

Immensely popular during his lifetime, H. G. Wells, along with Jules Verne, is credited with inventing science fiction. This new volume offers two of Wells’s best-loved and most critically acclaimed “scientific romances.” In each, the author grounds his fantastical imagination in scientific fact and conjecture while lacing his narrative with vibrant action, not merely to tell a “ripping yarn,” but to offer a biting critique on the world around him. “The strength of Mr. Wells,” wrote Arnold Bennett, “lies in the fact that he is not only a scientist, but a most talented student of character, especially quaint character. He will not only ingeniously describe for you a scientific miracle, but he will set down that miracle in the midst of a country village, sketching with excellent humour the inn-landlady, the blacksmith, the chemist’s apprentice, the doctor, and all the other persons whom the miracle affects.”